Daisy No 99 Target Special Lever Action Air Rifle

The Daisy story begins in Plymouth,
Michigan, a town situated near Detroit, in the late 19th century.
One of the first mass-produced American-made air rifles was the
"Chicago", a wood-and-steel gun that was manufactured by the
Markham Air Rifle Co. of Plymouth. Introduced in 1885, it set the
trend toward training guns which could be mass produced and sold at
low prices. Plymouth resident Clarence Hamilton worked as a watch
and clock repairman.

At that time, windmills played an
important role on farms and rural homesteads as a cheap and
efficient method of pumping water. These windmills typically were
made from wood, but Hamilton thought that iron windmills would be
better, stronger and cheaper than the wooden variety. He received a
patent for this idea, and, along with his employer and several
local businessmen, the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company was born.
Like the windmills of the period, air rifles were also made from
wood.

In 1888, Hamilton's inventive spirit
again showed itself, this time in his idea for an all-metal air
rifle. When Plymouth's directors gathered to examine the first
model of his new gun, Lewis C. Hough, the general manager,
exclaimed "Boy, that's a daisy!" The original model was a
lever-action gun that featured a cast metal receiver and a
heavy-gauge wire stock. Like Markham's "Chicago", this rifle and
its successors used lead shot ammunition. Plymouth's management
decided to produce a few of these rifles, but rather than selling
them outright, they were offered as a premium to farmers who
purchased the company's windmills. A market for these air rifles
followed, and they quickly became Plymouth's most popular product.
By 1889, air rifle production had completely replaced iron
windmills in the company's product line. Six years later, the
Plymouth Iron Windmill Co. became the Daisy Manufacturing Co.

In 1898, Hamilton sold his interest
in the company and went on to manufacture iron-frame .22 caliber
rifles of his own design. By this time, Louis Cass Hough had become
manager of the firm, and Daisy would remain in the Hough family for
more than sixty years. At about the turn of the century, A. W.
Chafee, the salesman responsible for the introduction of Markham's
"Chicago" air rifle, became dissatisfied with his employer. He
proposed that rival Daisy manufacture an all metal air rifle that
he could sell. This model, which was known as the "Sentinel",
compelled Markham to produce their own metal air rifles, which were
sold under the "King" brand. On August 11, 1929, Daisy acquired the
King Manufacturing Co., the successor of Markham, and its machinery
was moved to the Daisy plant where manufacture of the King air
rifle was continued.

Original Daisy rifles were
lever-action guns, with the pump action Model 25 joining the Daisy
family in 1913. This design, which was invented by Charles Lefever
and virtually unchanged since, has been responsible for over 8
million sales. Lefever was a Daisy employee until 1953. During his
tenure, he also designed several other Daisy products, including a
water pistol and the lever-action Military Model Number 40 with
socket-style bayonet. This popular gun, which sold for $5, was
introduced during the First World War and contributed to Daisy's
first half-million dollar sales year in 1916.

During the 1920s, Daisy management
noted that quite a few air rifles were being returned to the
factory with steel ball bearings lodged in their barrels. Upon
investigation, it was determined that these guns were all from the
Minneapolis area, where local boys found that the scrapyard of the
American Ball Company was a good source of free ammunition. These
reject bearings were sometimes slightly oversized, and were prone
to jam guns into which they were loaded. American Ball soon began
to manufacture BBs, and shortly afterward, the company was
purchased by Daisy and relocated Plymouth. BB production remains a
staple of Daisy, with production exceeding 55 million BBs per day
by the late 1980s.

As the Great Depression spread across
America in the 1930s, Daisy actually prospered at a time when other
companies were scaling back or closing down. The company's popular
Buck Rogers Twenty-fifth Century Rocket Pistol, Disintegrator, and
Water Pistol, introduced in 1934, were popular sellers for the
Michigan firm, and orders nearly outpaced production. Daisy
followed suit in 1936 with the Superman Krypto Ray Gun, which
projected images onto walls and other surfaces. Daisy rifles also
found markets in Europe, South Africa, Australia, and China, and
many foreign companies produced and marketed their own air rifles
that, in some cases, were pirated from the Daisy designs. Sales
were handled both through dealers and via direct mail.

The company turned to personal
endorsements as a boost to sales, and such notables as Captain
Eddie Rickenbacker, John Philip Sousa, and Tris Speaker appeared in
Daisy advertisements that were often found on comic book covers and
in youth publications. Daisy also entered into a deal with cowboy
stars Buzz Barton and Buck Jones, both of whom were featured on
namesake rifles. Prior to the Second World War, comic strip cowboy
hero Red Ryder also was the subject of a Daisy namesake rifle. The
1,000-shot lever-action Red Ryder Carbine was a huge success
throughout the 1940s and 50s, and is still marketed today as a
commemorative model. Daisy continued its long tradition of
lever-action western-style rifles with the production of the
Spittin' Image 94, an accurate copy of the famous Winchester Model
94 rifle.

This model has become the
best-selling BB gun in Daisy history. With the exception of a few
wooden toy guns, the production of BB guns was discontinued during
the Second World War, and Daisy turned its facilities over to
military production. Production resumed after the war, but was
curtailed during the Korean War. By the mid-1950s, full-scale
production had resumed, and Daisy's annual sales topped the $5
million mark. As production costs rose in the Detroit area, the
company began to search for a suitable new location. In 1958,
Daisy's 70-year residency in Plymouth ended, and the company
relocated to a 350,000 square-foot factory in Rogers, Arkansas.

Daisy has also maintained a
relationship with America's armed forces. Daisy products have been
used as training aids for the teaching of shooting skills to U.S.
Army recruits. The Daisy shooting kits were also distributed to
troops to teach instinctive shooting techniques during the Vietnam
War. These kits have also been used by law enforcement agencies and
have spurred a civilian offshoot consisting of an instruction
booklet, a Daisy Model 2199 air rifle identical to that used by the
Army, targets, ammunition, and safety glasses.

Daisy remains the dominant name in BB
and airguns. In addition to their famous Model 25, Red Ryder, and
Model 94 guns, Daisy also manufactures and markets precision target
and match airguns suitable for competitive use by adult shooters.
The El Gamo rifles and Model 128 Gamo Olympic are produced in Spain
and feature barrels made by Walther. Daisy competition-grade guns
have also been manufactured through a joint venture with German
firm Feinwerkbau. The company also remains committed to promotion
of shooting safety and marksmanship programs, including those
sponsored by the National Rifle Association, the Boy Scouts of
America, Jaycees, 4-H, and other organizations.